The present invention relates to a hinge device of the snap-in type for a door assembly comprising a door frame and a door leaf, wherein the hinge consists of two hinge leaves that are pivotal relative to one another via a pin joint, wherein one of the hinge leaves is capable of being secured to the door frame, wherein the other hinge leaf is designed for snap-in engagement with a receiving part which is fastened to the door leaf, the receiving part having a pin, boss or the like which is yielding on spring action and designed to snap into a hole or recess in the second hinge leaf, and wherein said first and second hinge leaves rest with their faces substantially parallel when the door assembly is in a closed position.
Hinges of the snap-in type for a door assembly have been on the market for many years and have largely replaced the traditional lift-off hinges in the case of lighter internal doors.
To compensate for skew hanging which occurs when there added tolerances in recesses and in hinges, and also non-perfect frame installation, a so-called hinge cracker is used to bend the hinge with force in a lateral direction. Insofar as vertical adjustment is concerned, this has hitherto been attended to by moving the hinge in the recess. In hinges of the lift-off type it has been possible, however, to adjust the height upwards with the aid of washers.
However, it has not been possible to adjust any of the previous hinges in the depthwise direction, which is desirable if the side parts of the frame have been placed somewhat out of line with one another.
The object of the present invention is to maintain the advantages that are present in a hinge of the snap-in type and allow the door leaf to be adjusted three-dimensionally by means of simple movements and the use of an ordinary screw driver.
As an example of prior art reference may be made, inter alia, to Norwegian Patent 147651 which relates to a solution partly for changing the swing direction of a door leaf and partly for adjusting the depth.
Norwegian Patent 161394 relates to a hinge comprising two hinge leaves, wherein one of the hinge leaves is made having a tongue-like portion intended for insertion into a groove in a mounting, which preferably is designed for recessing in the edge of a door leaf. To enable the hinge to be used both for right-hand hinging and left-hand hinging of a door without it having to be turned on its head, both the tongue-like portion and the groove are curved, the groove extending between two openings in the flat mounting which when installed faces outwards. The mounting consists of two parts that are displaceable relative to one another, and this permits adjustment of the hinge in the vertical direction in order to take up wear or compensate for production inaccuracies or skewness of the door frame.
Norwegian Patent 176683 relates to a laterally adjustable, insertable door hinge. The hinge fixing bracket at its mid-portion is formed having a pivot point about which the insertion tongue of the hinge can be tilted to a desired position, wherein the adjustment means for the insertion tongue is insertable at the side of the fixing bracket that is closest to the hinge shaft, wherein said adjustment means has grooves which, when the adjustment means is turned less than 180xc2x0 in one direction or the other from a zero position, cause the insertion tongue to be tilted in a controlled manner in one direction or the other from a neutral position on the fixing bracket and secured in the desired position.
Norwegian Patent 165354 relates to a hinge wherein one of the hinge leaves is divided into two parts, one of which has a pocket into which the part fits. The shape and size of the pocket is such that the position of the part in the pocket can be adjusted by means of adjustable stops in the form of screws which are seated in the hinge leaf part for adjustment of a door leaf in an associated door frame. However, this hinge structure is not a hinge of the snap-in type, although lateral adjustment is made possible.
Danish Patent 138513 relates to a hinge of the insertion type. In this known solution, the insertion part of the hinge which is to enter a receiving part may have an optional depth of insertion in the pocket, whereby an adjustable depthwise adjustment of the hinge is obtained.
Swedish Patent Publication 427202 relates to a hinge having a hinge pin, wherein the two hinge parts are adjustable relative to one another, in that the hinge shaft is adjustable in its longitudinal direction and has an adjustable bottom stop. However, this known hinge is not of the snap-in type.
Norwegian Published Patent Application 147221 relates to a hinge wherein one of the hinge leaves can be hooked onto a fixing screw. However, this hinge cannot be adjusted in any way.
EP Publication 687787 relates to a hinge structure herein one of the hinge leaves is accommodated in a receiving part, and wherein the hinge can be adjusted sideways.
German Patent DE 2534472 relates to a hinge structure of the snap-in type, but which has no facilities for post-installation adjustments.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,885,722 relates to hinges for hanging doors wherein both depthwise adjustment and vertical adjustment are possible to a certain extent. However, the hinge is not of the snap-in type.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,185,357 relates to a hinge component wherein two adjusting screws are used to achieve best possible adjustment of one of the hinge leaves relative to a receiving part wherein this hinge leaf can be inserted.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,339,493 relates to a hinge wherein it is not possible to separate a receiving part and a hinge leaf inserted therein from one another, inasmuch as once the parts of the receiving part are joined together, the insertable hinge part can no longer be removed.
This hinge can be adjusted laterally and also vertically.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,694,665 relates to an adjustable hinge wherein it is possible, inter alia to adjust the hinge sideways.
One of the objects of the present invention is to turn to good account the advantages associated with a hinge structure of the snap-in type, and wherein the primary object is to provide a sideways adjustment of the hinge, whilst ensuring that depthwise adjustment and vertical adjustment can be easily made.
According to the invention, the hinge device is characterised in that pivot point means are provided either on the second hinge leaf or in a hinge leaf receiving pocket on the receiving part; that the second hinge leaf at the free end portion thereof is provided with a notch, and that the receiving part close to the pocket bottom has an adjusting screw having step flanges, wherein the adjusting screw upon the insertion of the second hinge leaf into the pocket enters the notch, and wherein the step flanges, having a diameter greater than the width of the notch, are designed to form abutment against opposing surface portions of the second hinge leaf, wherein turning the adjusting screw effects lateral adjustment of the hinge.
According to one embodiment of the device, the second hinge leaf has as pivot point means elevated protuberances at each lateral edge on both lateral surfaces of the hinge leaf, and the protuberances form respective abutment against the largest wall surfaces of the pocket, the protuberances also constituting stiffening of the hinge leaf.
The protuberances along respective lateral edges are offset relative to one another in the longitudinal direction of the hinge leaf and form an approximate wave shape.
According to another embodiment, the opposing, largest wall surfaces of the pocket at approximately the same depth in the pocket are each provided with a pair of elevated portions which extend into the pocket compartment and are intended for pivot point abutment against a respective lateral surface of the second hinge leaf.
According to yet another advantage of the present invention, the pin, boss or the like that is yielding on spring action is adjustably mounted with the aid of an adjusting screw in an elongate opening in an elastic tongue on the receiving part, whereby the possibility of depthwise adjustment of the hinge is obtained. The elastic tongue may optionally be an integrally cast part of the receiving part or may be secured to the receiving part. As an alternative, the pin, boss or the like that is yielding on spring action may be placed in a slide that is adjustable in the longitudinal direction of the pocket and is located in the receiving part, whereby the possibility of depthwise adjustment of the hinge is obtained.
To ensure that vertical adjustment of the hinge can be effected, the pocket of the receiving part has a width that is greater than the width of the lateral surfaces of the second hinge leaf, and a height that is greater than the thickness of the second hinge leaf, the receiving part along opposing lateral edges of the pocket having means for adjustable abutment against the opposing lateral edges of the second hinge leaf, whereby the possibility of vertical adjustment of the hinge is obtained.
According to yet another embodiment of the invention, the adjustable abutting means consist of a pair of adjusting screws or rotatable, spring-loaded, eccentric discs having a plurality of contact edge faces.